Coppelia

My friend has recommended that I watch ballet ever since I came to England and finally I found a show playing in the city centre. I found an advertisement in a newspaper and it said “introduction to ballet offer: bring a friend for free”. The word “free” caught my eye, but they also had some small text. I wasn’t sure whether I could get a free ticket or not, but it was worth asking at the ticket office. When I asked about the “introduction to ballet offer” the person told me “it’s buy one get one free”. Yes, that was what I expected to hear and this expression was much easier to recognize, sometimes discount information is described in a more complicated way on purpose. Anyway this time I got two tickets for one price without a problem. Coppelia is a French ballet but it was performed by Ellen Kent Russian Ballet in Manchester; what an international event!

I went to the Saturday matinee show where the majority of the audience was elderly people. The show had another promotion where children got free entry so there were lots of grand children. In general, grand parents spoil their grandchildren so some kids kept eating snacks with a crackling noise during the show but some kids seemed to be wishing to become a ballet dancer, they danced in the aisles during the break between acts: they were adorable!

The show was formed with three acts; the first two acts were performed by following the story: so their costume weren’t typical ballet costumes like when I watched “Swan Lake” on TV. They wore flexible but rather normal costumes and it helped me to understand that ballets were born from a part of Opera. The theatre I went to watch it at was also called “Opera house” so the stage looked a bit small for a ballet performance but it might be closer to the original idea. The story was performed using ballet dancing and orchestral music so it was simple and easy to follow, at least I didn’t feel any language barrier. The third act was exactly what I expected for a ballet performance: women wore tutus which I like and the cast were dancing in solos, pairs and groups. I’m new to watch ballet performances so I love this typical form of it.

This was a really good opportunity to watch something good at an affordable price. My friend told me if she bought the same ballet performance ticket in Japan it would cost approximately 50pounds per person; however I got my two tickets for 13pounds. I’ve already found the same promotion tickets for an Opera in March it costs a bit more than ballet but still it’s good value if I think about the price in Japan.